1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game controller, a storage medium storing a game program, and a game apparatus, and particularly to the game controller including a plurality of load sensors, the storage medium storing a game program for performing game processing with the game controller, and the game apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a load detecting device including a plurality of load sensors in the field of medical equipment for the purpose of training such as rehabilitation.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 62-34016 discloses a variable load display apparatus including the two load sensors. In the variable load display apparatus, legs are ridden on the load sensors respectively, and a balance between right and left is measured by displaying load values detected from the two load sensors.
Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 7-275307 discloses a barycentric movement training apparatus including three load detecting means. In the barycentric movement training apparatus, legs are ridden on a detecting board in which the three load detecting means are provided. A barycentric position is computed and displayed by computation of signals detected from the three load detecting means, thereby conducting barycentric movement training.
On the other hand, in a conventional general-purpose game controller, a cross key, for example, is provided, and at least four-directional instructions can be issued.
In view of the application of the apparatus including the load sensor of Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open Nos. 62-34016 and 7-275307 to the game controller, only the instructions in the right and left directions are enabled using outputs of the right and left sensors in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 62-34016, and the instructions in the three directions are enabled using the load values of the three load detecting means in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 7-275307.
Thus, unfortunately the techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open Nos. 62-34016 and 7-275307 are hardly used as the general-purpose game controller in which manipulations are required in at least four directions.
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 62-34016, because the values detected from the two load sensors are directly used, only simple measurement can be performed to hardly make an interesting game, even if the technique is applied to the game processing.
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 7-275307, the barycentric position is computed by the three load detecting means and an image indicating the barycentric position is displayed. However, various quantities of load values are not computed from the signals of the three load detecting means.